Polina Zherebtsova's Journal

Polina Zherebtsova's Journal

Polina Zherebtsova's Journal: Chechnya 1999-2002 is the edited diary kept by Polina Zherebtsova while she was living in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic. It was published in September 2011 in Russia.[1] Zherebtsova wrote the diary when she was 14–17 years old, from the beginning of The Second Chechen War until December 2002. It tells the story of ethnic relations between Russian and Chechen peoples and of the lives of civilians during the war. This book is non-fiction, but real names were changed by the author in the book.

According to The Guardian, Zherebtsova said of the book:

I don't scold anyone in particular, neither the rebels nor the Russian soldiers ... There is no evil in the book – just the life of civilians who fell into life in war[2]

Polina Zherebtsova's Journal 1994


The published in Russia book resulted in a hatred campaign against the author, and she was forced to flee to Finland, where Polina Zherebtsova asked for political asylum.[1]

  1. ^ a b "The interview, Polina Zherebtsova, author of "The Diary of Polina Zherebtsova"". France 24. October 24, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  2. ^ Elder, Miriam (30 September 2011). "The second Chechen war: a Grozny teenager's diary". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 27 March 2012.